International Socialist Commission
The International Socialist Commission, also known as the International Socialist Committee or the Berne International was a coordinating committee of socialists parties that adhered to the idea of the Zimmerwald Conference of 1915.
Early history
The Zimmerwald Conference elected
The Commissions activity in the first months of its existences consisted of translating the manifesto and resolutions of the conference and distributing them as widely as possible. To that end they first forwarded copies of the first number of their Bulletin to the socialist and trade union papers of the neutral countries. Within the belligerent countries the ISC was able to have the full documents published in Italy, Russia, France, England and Bulgaria but only summaries in Austria and Germany. They also sent a circular to all the parties adhering to the ISB announcing their existence and the objects of the group. Only the
On September 27, 1915, ISC sent out a confidential circular (which was nevertheless leaked to the unfriendly press) suggesting that the adhering groups appoint up to three extra delegates to join the Commissioners as part of an Enlarged Committee. The first session of this Enlarged Committee of the International Socialist Commission was held in Berne February 5–8, 1916. No official list of attendees was published and sources disagree about who was present. Fainsod lists the following: Robert Grimm and
After some debate the meeting decided to issue a circular (though not a full manifesto as the
Kienthal to the Russian Revolution
The ISC set to work arranging for a new congress of Zimmerald adherents which met at
The Kienthal Conference adopted another manifesto and some important resolutions, but it declined to advocate a policy to be followed by its adherents toward the conference of Neutral Socialists scheduled to meet at the Hague that summer. This was deferred to the second meeting of the ISC Enlarged Committee on May 2. Each organization that participated in the Kienthal Conference was represented by one delegate. This meeting "considered some administrative matters, authenticated the Kienthal resolutions, and discussed matters of parliamentary action" as well as the Hague Conference. One group, headed by Martov, advocated participation, arguing that no opportunity should be missed to expose to the workers the "cause of the failure" of the International Socialist Bureau. Zinoviev argued against, claiming it would only confuse the workers. The meeting ultimately became deadlocked, with five votes for each proposition, so it was decided that each party should make up its own mind whether to attend, but they should uphold the Zimmerwald resolutions if they did.[9]
The ISC Enlarged Committee attempted to meet again at Olten on February 1, 1917 to consider a proposed Paris conference of Entente socialist parties. The ISC called a meeting of the Enlarged Committee members of the Allied countries, but only those groups with a presence in Switzerland were able to attend. The meeting therefore, only issued a none binding declaration recommending its affiliates not to attend. An official list of delegates was, again, not published, but the official communique stated "only those delegates of the three Russian socialist parties, who were in Switzerland - the representatives of the National Committee of the Polish Socialist Party (the Levitsa) and of the Bund, as well as a representative of La Vie Ouvriere in Paris, who resides in Switzerland - came to the conference." The editors of the Hoover Institutions The Bolsheviks and the World War, however, state specifically that the organizations represented included the Bolsheviks, the Mensheviks, and the Russian Social Revolutionaries, as well as Henri Guilbeaux and Willi Münzenberg.[10]
The Russian Revolution and Stockholm
After the
A train full of Russia exiles arrived from Switzerland in mid-May, carrying fellow ISC member and interpreter Angelica Balabanoff, as well as Martov, Riazanov, Pavel Axelrod and a number of other Russian socialist luminaries. Grimm boarded this train and set off for the Russian frontier. Before he got to the Russian border he learned that the foreign minister who denied him a visa,
On May 28–29 they had an informal conference with members of Zimmerwaldist parties in the city. According to Balabanoff's notes this was attended by Lenin, Zinoviev and Kamenev of the Bolsheviks; Bobrov of the Social Revolutionaries; Grigorii Bienstock, Martov, Martynov, and Larin of the Mensheviks; Raphael Abramovitch of the Bund; Leon Trotsky, Mikhail Urinovich and Riazanov of the Inter-District Committee; Lapinski of the Polish Socialist Party - Left and Christian Rakovsky of the Romanian Social Democrats. According to her notes Trotsky, Kamenev, Zinoviev, Riazanov and herself were opposed to participation in the purposed Stockholm conference, while Rakovsky, Grimm, Bobrov and Martynov were for attending. In any case, decision would have to wait until the next Zimmerwaldist Conference. The Bolshevik delegation also tried to prevail on the ISC to issue a condemnation of socialists serving as ministers in the Provisional Government. While most at the meeting who gave an opinion were against socialist participation in the Provisional Government, there was also a broad consensus that the ISC did not have the authority to make such a statement without first consulting its affiliates.[14]
The "Grimm Affair"
While in Petrograd both Balabanoff and Grimm were vigorously criticized in the press as being German agents working for a
On June 20 Grimm resigned as Chairman of the International Socialist Commission. On the same day Carl Hoglund, acting on behalf of the Swedish Left Social Democratic Party and Youth League, appointed a commission of three to look after the affairs of the ISC --
The commission found that Grimm had made the telegraphic exchange without the knowledge of Balabanoff or any of the other Zimmerwaldists in Petrograd, and, while condemning him for practicing a kind of secret diplomacy, absolved him of attempting to reach a separate peace with Germany. It also absolved the International Socialist Commission itself, as no other member besides Grimm knew about the telegraphs.[19]
The "affair" also had repercussions in Switzerland. Councilor Hoffman resigned on June 19. When Grimm returned he faced another commission of inquiry, this time appointed by the presidium of the Swiss Social Democratic Party. On September 1, 1917 the presidium voted 18-15 to accept the majority report of the commission, which came to most of the same conclusions as the Stockholm commission and recommended Grimm be restored to his previous party posts. A minority report signed by Charles Naine, Grimms former ISC colleague, was more condemnatory and denied the right of the presidium to restore Grimm to his previous mandates.[20]
The Third Zimmerwald Conference
Meanwhile, the ISC in Stockholm held a meeting at the office of the Stormklocken newspaper on July 3,
On July 9, once their meetings with the Dutch-Scandinavian Committee (the organization planning the Stockholm conference) were finished, the Soviet delegation tried once again to enlist the ISC in the preparation work for the Stockholm Conference. This meeting, held at the ISCs "quarters" was between Balabanoff, Hoglund and Carlson for the ISC and Hendrik Ehrlich and another representative[25] The Soviet delegation did not get a formal answer until July 11, when the ISC sent them a formal letter stating that they would not be able to participate in the preparations because the Stockholm Conference invitations had been "altered" to include the pro-war socialist parties and that the breaking of the "civil peace" was not a requirement of the parties to the conference[26]
On July 13, according to Fainsod, there was another meeting of the ISC with Zimmerwaldists in Stockholm. Participants reported included Radek, Alexandra Kollontai, Orowski, Martinov and Jermanski of Russia, "Mohr of Switzerland", Sirola of Finland, Storm and Kilborn of Sweden. Radek and Kollantai are supposed to have argued against going to the proposed Stockholm Conference while it was still reiterated that only the Third Zimmerwald Conference could decide that.[27]
On July 18 Balabanoff did issue a revised invitation to the Third Zimmerwald Conference. The invitation gave the date as August 10, 1917 and included a provisional agenda, stated that the condition for participation were the same as those published in Bulletin #3 and also included an invitation to a socialist women's conference to be held in connection with the Zimmerwald conference[28]
On August 1 another meeting of the ISC with Zimmerwald adherents in Stockholm decided to call the Third Zimmerwald Conference and meet in Stockholm on September 5 regardless of what happened to the movement for the proposed general Conference. The participants at this meeting included Lindhagen, Lindstorm, and Otto Strom of Sweden; Osip Arkadievich Ermanski of the Menshiviks; Yrjo Sirola of Finland;
Finally, the Third Zimmerwald Conference met at Stockholm on September 5–12, 1917. It had a smaller number of participants than any of the previous Zimmerwaldist Conferences, with only about thirty delegates from Russia, Germany, Poland, Finland, Rumania, Switzerland, the United States, Sweden and Norway, as well as the members of the ISC itself.[30] By this point the question of attending the proposed general Stockholm Conference had been rendered practically moot because of the inability of the organizers to realize the project.[31] The question was discussed anyway because some delegates felt that the issues raised by the movement for the Stockholm Congress were of a "fundamental" nature and the proletarians needed to be educated as to why the proposal foundered. No resolution was passed on the issue, though the movement for the Stockholm Conference is condemned, in passing, in the Conferences manifesto.[32]
Final months in Stockholm
The manifesto itself caused some trouble for the ISC. It was agreed that it would not be immediately released because it contained a call for co-ordinated
The ISC held a meeting with a visiting Serb delegation on October 10. The Serbs were represented by Kaslerovic and Popvic. In addition to the Serbs, the following were present: Christian Rakovsky of Romania;
The ISC held two meetings on November 8, 1917, the day after the Bolshevik seizure of power in Petrograd. Present, beside the formal members of the Commission, were Radek, Racovsky, Tinev and Kharlakov. At the first it was moved that the ISC send a telegram of congratulations to the Petrograd Soviet in the name of all the affiliated parties. Racovsky protested against this, suggesting they wait until the situation in Russia was clear and all the parties were able to take a stand on what happened. He was overruled. Radek offered an already written appeal that he wanted issued jointly by the Bolsheviks and the ISC which urged workers around the world to strike and form soviets to defend the Russian revolution from counter-revolution and defend peace. It also asked all the parties which approved of the revolution to send delegates to Stockholm. This was approved. At a second meeting later that night the publication of the manifesto adopted at the Third Zimmerwald Conference was approved.[35]
The ISC spent the remainder of its existence publishing its newsletter and other material supportive of the Bolshevik revolution. In March 1918 its published a special illustrated "Zimmerwald Russia Review", Frieden, Brot, Freiheit in twelve languages. It also published a pamphlet of Bukharin, Thesen über der sozialistische Revolution und die Aufgaben des Proletariats während seiner Diktatur in Russland. The final issue of Nachrichten was published on September 1, 1918 and contained an appeal to the workers in German, French, Swedish, Italian and English. That month Balabanoff went on a tour of several countries to try to revive the influence of the ISC and fight off calls for its return to Switzerland. She was not especially successful, being expelled from Switzerland and denied reentry into Sweden. As secretary of the International Socialist Commission, she consented into its formal dissolution into the Communist International at its first congress in March 1919.[36]
Publications
Periodicals
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Pamphlets
- Das Wiedererwachen der Internationale by Christian Rakovsky Bern: Internationale Sozialistische Kommission, 1916
- Lenin: am Tage nach der Revolution by Fritz Platten Zürich : Genossenschaftsdruckerei, 1918
Affiliates
Two membership lists of organizations adhering to Zimmerwald were published in Bulletins #3 and #4. Not included in either lists were the opposition sections within the German and French socialist parties. Additionally, the Finnish Social Democrats adhered in the summer of 1917. There were also other groups whose allegiance to the ISC and Zimmerwald was ambiguous.
Entente countries (other than Russia)
- Italian Socialist Party (October 12, 1915)[37]
- Confederazione Generale del Lavoro (Italy)[38]
- American Socialist Party (before December 27, 1915) [39]
- German Speaking group of the Socialist Party of America[40]
- Socialist Labor Party (before December 27, 1915) [41]
- Independent Labour Party[42]
- British Socialist Party[43]
- Social Democratic Party of Romania[44]
- Serbian Social Democratic Party[45]
- Portuguese Socialist Party (before December 27, 1915) [46]
- International Socialist League of South Africa[47]
- Socialist Workers' Federation (Greece)[48]
Czarist Russia
- Central Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Workers Party (Bolsheviks)[49]
- Organization Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Mensheviks)[50]
- Social Revolutionary Party of Russia (Internationalist)[51]
- General Jewish Labour Bund in Lithuania, Poland and Russia[52]
- Polish Socialist Party – Left[53]
- Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania[54]
- Lettish Social Democratic Labour Party[55]
- Social Democratic Party of Finland (June 15–18, 1917)[56]
- Ukrainian Social Democrats - Borotbists[57]
Neutral countries
- Swiss Socialist Party (November 21, 1915)[58]
- Swedish Social Democratic Youth League[59]
- Young Social Democrats of Norway[60]
- Social Democratic Youth of Denmark[61]
- Madrid Socialist Youth[62]
- Revolutionary Socialist League[63]
Central Powers
- Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers' Party (Narrow Socialists)[64]
- Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers Party (Broad Socialists)[65]
- Federation of Trade Unions of Bulgaria[66]
- Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany.[67]
See also
References
- ^ Olga Hess Gankin and H.H. Fisher eds, The Bolsheviks and the First World War: the origins of the Third International Stanford University Press, 1940 pp.325-6
- ^ Fainsod, Merle International socialism and the World War New York, Octagon Books 1973 p.73
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.363
- ^ Fainsod, p.86
- ^ Gankin and Fisher pp.377-378. All party identifications are from Gankin and Fisher. Furthermore, Zinoviev's account of the conference, translated in Gankin and Fisher, mentions an Italian delegate, Rigola, representing the CGT, p.384. He also says that the French and English delegates could not attend but sent letters, despite the supposed presence of Guilbeaux.
- ^ Fainsod, p.86 gives the name of the first four and says there were also two ISC representatives and an unnamed German. Zinoviev's account of the meeting in Gankin and Fisher p.380 mentions Grimm being on the Commission
- ^ Gankin and Fisher pp.381-383
- ^ Fainsod, p.87
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.465
- ^ Gankin and Fisher pp.467-8, 472. A hostile publication wrote an "ironic" report stating that Zinoviev and Radek were present as representatives of the Swiss Social Democratic Party and argued with Robert Grimm
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.614
- ^ Gankin and Fisher pp.608-609
- ^ Gankin and Fisher pp.614-615
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.616
- ^ Fainsod p.154
- ^ Gankin and Fisher pp.617-618, 621-622
- ^ Fainsod p.155
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.619-20. Fainsod, p.154 gives a slightly different list, including Olausen of Norway and Otto Lang of Switzerland, but excluding Rakovsky and Moor. Also gives Bulgarian delegates name as "Krykov". On the final page of the translation of the report, the Commission is signed "Hoglund, Sweden; Kirkov, Bulgaria; Lang, Switzerland; Lindhagen, Sweden; Olaussen, Norway; Orlovsky, Russia; Radek, Poland">Gankin and Fisher p.629
- ^ Gankin and Fisher pp.627-629
- ^ Gankin and Fisher pp.619-620
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.629
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.630 Fainsod p.155 has Orlovsky, Radek and Hanecki representing "Russia and Poland"
- Emanual Gurevichwho is listed as a Soviet representative to Stockholm in the appendix p. 784
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.630 Fainsod p. 156 include much the same information with an excerpt of the statement
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.639 Again, the sources are not exactly clear about who was present. Fainsod p. 156 has "Rosanoff, Rousanoff and Ehrlich". Gankin and Fisher have (translating Soviet report) "Rusanov (Rozanov) and Ehrlich" Index lists both Vladimir Nicolaevich Rosanov (b. 186) and Nicolai Sergeevich Rusanov(b. 1859) as being referred to on p.639. On p.631 editors refer only to a "Rusanov" as being present on July 9. Index says the man referred to on that page is N.S. Rusanov; incidentally index says man referred to on p.630 (as being present at July 3 meeting) and p.640 (as signing report of Soviet delegation) was V.N. Rosanov
- ^ Gankin and Fisher pp.634-636 Translation of a letter by Balabanoff. Both Balabanoffs letter and Radek at the July 3 conference made use of the Soviets letter to Vandervelde, Albert Thomas and Brouckere in a "peace without annexations" See also Gankin and Fisher p.637
- ^ Fainsod p.157, Gankin and Fisher don't mention it
- Klara Zetkin, the parties and organizations affiliated with us to delegate to the Third Zimmerwald Conference woman comrades or to induce the socialist women's organizations to elect delegates from their ranks to an international conference of socialist woman which is to be held in connection with the third Zimmerwald Conference" The invitation was included in the Nachrichtendienst of July 22, which may explain Fainsod putting the invitation on that date Fainsod p.158
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.631 J. Eads how is listed in the appendix as the leader of the "Brotherhood of Daily Life" Gankin and Fisher p.786
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.663-4, 674-5
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.671
- ^ Gankin and Fisher pp.671,681
- ^ Gankin and Fisher pp.665-7 and Fainsod p.161
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.668 Memorandum by the Serbian socialist party upon the conditions in occupied Serbia ; Les souffrances d'un peuple
- ^ Gankin and Fisher pp.383-384, text of appeal translated on pp. 691-2
- ^ Gankin and Fisher pp.385-388, Faisod pp. 206-8
- ^ Fainsod, p.83
- ^ Gankin and Fisher pp.369-370
- ^ Gankin and Fisher pp.364, 369
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.369
- ^ Gankin and Fisher pp.364, 369
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.369
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.369
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.369
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.668 contains contradictory statements. Kacleroviv attended Kienthal, but apparently on his own recognizance
- ^ Gankin and Fisher pp.364, 369
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.369
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.369
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.369
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.369
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.369
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.369
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.369
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.369
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.369
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.663
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.370 Sent an appeal to the Kienthal conference
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.363
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.369
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.369
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.369
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.369
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.370 Included on the list of adherents in Bulletin #5
- ^ Gankin and Fisher pp.364, 369
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.370
- ^ Gankin and Fisher p.370
- ^ Was formed out of Zimmerwaldist groups Fainsod p.161. Represented at July 3 meeting of the ISC and third Zimmerwald Conference Gankin and Fisher pp.630, 674